Google Serendipitous Search Plans Helmed by Marissa Mayer

Moving Marissa Mayer over to head Google's geo/local unit is part of the company's plan to build a serendipitous search engine to bring users results so they don't have to enter them.

Google search star Marissa Mayer will head up the company's ambitious,
forward-looking plans to make search queries reach out to others instead of
making users come find the results on their computers and smartphones.
Google last week confirmed that it was tapping Mayer, who oversaw the search
engine's user interface for the last decade or so, to run the company's location-based
service efforts.

Today, that includes projects such as Google Latitude, the friend-finding app
used by millions of people; Google Buzz for mobile, a check-in service; and Web
services such as Google Places, which helps users on the go find restaurants
and retail stores from their mobile phones.

These Web services are all orbiting the expansive Google Maps platform the
search engine has cultivated with care for the last seven years.

Going forward, Mayer will leverage her strong background in artificial
intelligence to build the autonomous search engine Google CEO
Eric Schmidt described last month at TechCrunch Disrupt, a source familiar
with Google's plans confirmed for eWEEK.

Such technology, the source added, would send users who opted into the service
suggestions, alerts and promotions from, for example, stores participating in
Google's Places program, or even museums, theaters, and other attractions and
businesses.

This will also require advancements in personalized search, so this so-called
serendipity engine knows what is the most relevant results, actions or offers
to pitch users about.

For example, a user could be walking or driving down the street and receive a
notice from an Italian restaurant that has just had a reservation cancellation.

The search engine would send the user an offer to book the table, including a link
to the restaurant's business information to let the user call the eatery in a
single click. It is about helping the results find the user at the right time.

This all happens based on preferences the user has indicated from previous
searches that the serendipity engine collected for the user, such as that the
user happens to like Italian food.

"It's really a sort of interactive Yellow Pages," the source said,
adding that this plays well to users' mobile experience.

This seems to be right in Mayer's bailiwick; Mayer helped shepherd the Google
Instant predictive search technology to the masses last month.

Mayer was also tabbed for the prestigious operating committee at Google, a
smart move on Google's part to shift an experienced and successful executive
into what is arguably the most vital effort the search engine has in terms of
its core business in the long term.

Mayer's charter is also going to put her squarely in competition with Yelp,
Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter and other Web services that seek to connect
consumers with retailers and proprietors as efficiently as possible.

However, these services only go so far, noted Google developer advocate Don
Dodge in a recent blog post.

"Check-ins on FourSquare and Gowalla have gained lots of attention but
they aren't very useful beyond letting your friends know where you are,"
Dodge wrote. "Google can provide lots of context around your location with
information from Google Places, Google Maps, Weather, Reviews, and more."

Many believe location-based services will be a huge piece of the digital
advertising pie in the near and long term.

Google, with Mayer shepherding the geo/local group, aims to be front and center
for this evolution.